Grand Prix of Long Beach

LONG BEACH >> A familiar face led a new league in Long Beach on Saturday, as veteran driver Scott Pruett drove his No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley Daytona Prototype to an overall victory in the Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase.

This marks the first year that TUDOR United SportsCar Racing has competed in Long Beach, combining the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series that ran here in 2006 and the American Le Mans Series that ran here from 2007-2013.

The new league brought a diverse 21-car field to the street circuit that roared — and sometimes crashed — for the full 100-minute sprint race. Pruett and teammate Memo Rojas took the overall win and the class win in Daytona Prototype, while teammates Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia drove the ear-splitting No. 3 Corvette C7.R to top honors in the GT Le Mans sports car class.

Pruett, now 54, is the winningest driver in North American sports car racing history.

He won that final Rolex race in Long Beach back in 2006, as well as a Trans Am race in 1987. On Saturday, he found himself on top of the podium yet again.

“It was just a great day at the beach,” said Pruett. “This is a pretty special place for me.”

Starting from the pole position, Rojas climbed behind the wheel first and held the lead, but never by more than a few seconds.

When he brought the car into the pits to hand it over to Pruett, however, Emerson Fittipaldi pulled his No. 5 Corvette DP out in front and headed out onto the track in the lead. Pruett re-entered in second, anxious to find an opening before the Corvette warmed up its tires and pulled away. At Turn 8 just before the back straightaway, he saw daylight.

“I knew I had to make that move right away,” said Pruett. “You had to make it. You had to take a chance and stick it in there and try to make it happen.”

Pruett got away clean, and though he never led by more than a few seconds, he brought the No. 01 car home clean for the team’s second consecutive win this season. Brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor brought their No. 10 Corvette DP to second place, while Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa finished third.

“Two wins in a row, I can’t believe it,” said Rojas. “I don’t remember having such a flawless, perfect race.”

Coincidentally, the GT class winners felt the same way. Magnussen and Garcia led from the pole position and were never challenged up front, taking their first win of the season by nearly six seconds.

“I knew that half of the race was all about Turn 1 on the first three laps, basically,” said Garcia. “I was on the high side of being really aggressive, and a little bit of risk made the rest of the race a little more relaxed.”

Dirk Muller and John Edwards finished second in their No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, and fellow Corvette C7.R drivers Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner brought their No. 4 car to third place.